Conscience?

I ponder from time to time the phenomenon we call conscience, our inner guide, that voice that says "No, wrong." What is this thing?

There are so many values, to which does our own conscience respond? What one thinks wrong another thinks right, or it is right here but wrong there, so the standards appear relative. Murder is wrong except when the government or tribe says kill the enemy. In one part of the world it is wrong for a woman to show her ankle or hair and unthinkable for her to be educated. In the West that is wrong and the opposite is right.

There has been debate about how we attain our conscience. Are we born with it? Are we socialized into it? Does it enter with spirituality? Is it a tiny seed within us that has to be encouraged? Is it influenced by past lives? Is there even a standardized list of right and wrong for our conscience to listen to or ignore?

What is it in us that cringes and shouts within "WRONG!" And why does it shout that to different people in opposite directions?

It is mysterious.

Lord, attune my conscience to You. Lead me to live as You would have me live. Keep me aware of Your nudges, and fill me with the courage and faith to follow Your calls.